Felipe lara - Reviews

"Brazilian composer Felipe Lara is one of the very best young composers today. He combines various musical languages to create a syntax of his own. This is certainly true of his recent second string quartet, a work that can be played with or without electronics".

Anthony Tommasini - critic for the New York Times
From his JACK Quartet music review "At ease in T-shirts or suits, with Medieval or Modern", March 4th, 2010.

"In his brilliantly realized "Tran(slate)" (2008), the composer Felipe Lara transforms an earlier work for string quartet and electronics into a completely instrumental piece. All the bleeps, rings, loops, time delays and such of electronic music are evoked by the string players in a technically formidable, wildly varied work that evolves in sputtering sections. The performance was a tour de force of intensity and color".

Sidney Molina - critic for Folha de São Paulo
From feature article " O Vanguardista" in the arts section (Folha Ilustrada), March 8th, 2010.

"Como seria se a busca de "unidade na diversidade" (que é a assinatura de um autor como Mozart) se unisse com o trabalho de variação contínua sobre um "mínimo denominador" (que define a personalidade poética de Beethoven)? Uma resposta pode ser "Tutti", de Felipe Lara, escrita para uma formação camerística análoga à de "Pierrot Lunaire" de Schoenberg (1874-1951), e disponível em excelente gravação no CD "Música Plural" (2009), interpretada pelo Percorso Ensemble dirigido por Ricardo Bologna".

"Felipe Lara não escreve música para ficar engavetada: sem abrir mão das cicatrizes do espírito, sua musicalidade complexa atrai intérpretes e provoca a escuta".

"How would it be if the serach of a "unity in diversity" (which is the signature of an author like Mozart) was combined with one of continuous variation on a "common denominator" (that better defines the poetic personality of Beethoven)? One answer could be "Tutti", by Felipe Lara, written for a chamber combination analogue to Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" (1874-1951), and available in an excelent recording in the CD "Música Plural" (2009), here interpreted by the Percorso Ensemble, and conducted by Ricardo Bologna".

"Felipe Lara doesn't write music to stay in cabinets: never letting go of the scars of the spirit, his complex musicality attracts performers and teases the very act of listening".

Tran(slate)

Von Marius Volz - critic for the German newspaper Darmstädter Echo.
From his article - Über alle Hindernisse hinweg, July 11th, 2008.

"Im Abendkonzert am Donerstag in der Orangerie verschmilzt in Laras zweitem Streichquartett "Tran(slate)" die Elektronik auf raffinierte Weise mit dem Instrumentalensemble. Lara hat kurze akustische Schnipsel, bestehend aus wenigen gesummten Tönen, digital verarbeitet, um musikalische Informationen zu erhalten. Diese transformiert er zu den Motiven des Quartettsatzes. Die Klänge wandern, ausgehend vom Streichquartett auf der Bühne, in fließenden Prozessen mit den elektronischen Einspielungen durch den Raum. Hier wird auf schlüssige Weise Neues geschaffen, das mit alten Traditionen des Genres bricht."

"In the evening concert on Thursday, in the Orangerie, the electronics and the instrumental ensemble coalesced in a refined manner. Lara had short acoustic snippets comprising of a few hummed tones, which were digitally processed for the computer to store. These transformed the motives and phrases from the string quartet. The sounds wandered, outwards from the string quartet on the stage, in real-time processes with the electronic sounding in different places throughout the room. Here new invention and old tradition collapsed convincingly."

Patrick Valentino - critic for the Classical Voice of New England.
From his JACK Quartet Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston concert review.

"Felipe Lara (b.1979) managed to gain coherency by presenting and then uniting many diverse elements. In Lara's work, a kaleidoscopic unity was arrived at by the contrapuntal juxtaposition of its myriad sonic effects."

Jeremy Eichler - critic for the Boston Globe.
From his JACK Quartet Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston concert review.

"Felipe Lara's "Tran(slate)" leaned on sharp attacks and various extended techniques (at one point, a rubber band on strings) to convey its expressive urgency".

Tran(slate)

Leonardo Martinelli - composer and critic for Revista Concerto, Brazil.
From his article - Gente Nova, Música Nova.

"Poucas semanas atrás foi a vez de Felipe Lara, agraciado com Prêmio Staubach, que além de alguns milhares de euros, lhe rendeu também a encomenda de uma nova obra a ser estreada pelo conceituado Arditti String Quartet no mítico festival de verão de Darmstadt, na Alemanha. Prêmios como estes são apenas a ponta de um iceberg, não só na carreira destes compositores, mas de toda uma geração."

"A few weeks ago was Felipe Lara's turn, granted the Staubach Prize, which apart from the award, provided him with a new commission, which (as a finalist) was premiered by the respected Arditti Quartet in the legendary summer festival of Darmstadt, Germany. Prizes like these are only the tip of the iceberg, not only in these composers careers, but for an entire generation."

"I was extremely impressed with this work and immediately began thinking where we could perform the work again. We will play it in Metz in France in July and also in Brazil in September. I think Felipe is one of the most interesting young composers I have come across in the last years and I have no hesitation in recommending him to any Festival"

"Felipe Lara's Corde Vocale, stuck me as the piece most likely to gain entry into the Arditti repertoire: an introductory stretch of stabbing thrusts, stitched together with the most tenuous of sonic threads, gave rise to a series of tonal chords made all the more startling by context. A transition of sine-wave stillness led to an agitated conclusion. The horsehair-ripping physicality of Lara's piece announced a bold, distinctive voice, presented with stylistic confidence and technical assurance."

Corde Vocale

Arditti Quartet - 42nd Festival de Musica Nova - SESC Vila Mariana - São Paulo/Brazil
Arthur Nestrovski - music and literary critic for Folha de São Paulo

"Tanto melhor que o programa de anteontem, fechando a programação do Festival Música Nova, trazia outras obras bem recentes, incluindo a música de dois brasileiros, Felipe Lara(1979) e Alexandre Lunsqui (1969). "Corde Vocale", do sorocabano Felipe Lara, foi composto no ano retrasado. As "cordas vocais" do título são metáforas para as vocalizantes cordas do quarteto, que se comunicam irregular e contrapuntisticamente, numa nebulosa sonora. Doutorando em composição na Universidade de Nova York, sob orientação de Mario Davidovsky, Louis Karchin e Tristan Murail (Columbia), Lara escreve num idioma que conversa com a eletroacústica e a música espectral, mas aponta para outra direção."

"So much so that the program, wrapping up the festival, also brought brand new works, including two Brazilians, Felipe Lara(1979) e Alexandre Lunsqui (1969). Lara's "Corde Vocale" was composed two years ago. The "vocal chords" from the title refers to metaphors of vocalizing strings from the quartet, which communicate irregularly and contrapuntaly in a sonic cloud. Currently a PhD candidate at New York University under the supervision of Mario Davidovsky, Louis Karchin, and Tristan Murail (Columbia), Lara writes in an idiom which converses with electroacoustic and spectral music, but points it at a rather different direction."

Lawrence A. Johnson - Chicago Classical Review
From "ICE chills with three new works for bass clarinets and flutes".

"Felipe Lara's Vocalise utilizes the bass clarinets' upper range in an edgy jazz-like stridency, far from the animalistic lowing one associated with the instrument. Rubin and MacDonald displayed sterling versatility, the music ranging from ominous quiet bass notes to screeching high lines, with the players called upon to sing into their instruments".

Onda

Berkshire Symphony - cond. Ronald Feldman - Williams College - Chapin Hall
The Berkshire Review for the Arts

"Onda is a classic tone poem. Its title means “wave” in several Romance languages, and it does indeed bring Debussy’s La Mer to mind at times, but in a way refreshingly free from the obvious clichés a composer might fall prey to. Mr. Lara introduces his undular motif with sharp attacks and a brilliant sound from a very large orchestra. Although scene-painting and atmosphere were central, Onda showed a strong sense of form in equal measure. Colorful orchestration was central, here enriched by a more sophisticated musical imagination, more daring sonorities, and a vivid exoticism. Again Mr. Feldman’s reading got right to the core of the music and brought it to life as it should be: what was harsh was harsh, what was strange was strange, and delicate passages were most sensitively played."

"At the other end of the spectrum, Felipe Lara's Serenata, proved that complexity is far from played out. Based on the half-dozen or so pieces I've heard so far, Lara is a composer concerned with tonal clashes and rhythmic abrasion; even so, I've yet to hear a piece of his that didn't sound utterly natural, even inevitable. Lara has a unique gift for creating difficult music that falls easy on the ear. His Serenata -- scored for flute, bass clarinet, French horn, acoustic guitar, harp, piano, double bass and percussion -- ebbed and flowed like a moody dream interrupted by fits and starts. Lara's masterful combinations of tone and timbre frequently suggested voices and instruments that simply weren't present on the stage."

Notturno

Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira - Sala Cecília Meireles - Rio de Janeiro/Brazil
by Tom Moore

http://www.brazilmax.com/news5.cfm/tborigem/fe_music/id/1

"The festival began with its only orchestral program, featuring the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, directed by Luis Gustavo Petri, at the Sala Cecília Meireles, downtown. First up was a Nocturne for Strings by Felipe Lara (São Paulo, b. 1979), a slow, atmospheric, spare and well-made work, reflecting evening vapors with slides and microtonal trills, a long-breathed piece reminiscent in mood of the religious vein of Messiaen"

Livro dos Sonhos I

AltaVoz Ensemble - Michael Norsworthy and John McDonald - John Knowles Paine Hall - Harvard University - Cambridge/MA
by David Cleary - from New Music Connoisseur

http://www.newmusicon.org/reviews2005/altavoz.htm

"In his program notes to Livro dos sonhos I , Felipe Lara makes no secret of the abrupt, non-linear nature of his duet for clarinet and piano. It says much for this scattered composition that it doesn't contain a single dull moment. There are violent contrasts aplenty, with enough showy writing to challenge the finest players. And extended techniques are nicely integrated into the clangorous fabric. It's surprisingly wonderful to hear. Clarinetist Michael Norsworthy and pianist John McDonald were utterly stunning in Lara's work, gleefully seizing its wild abandon and exuberantly tearing into its breathtaking difficulties."

Prisma

Duo Diorama - Minghuan Xu and Winston Choi - Festival de Música Nova - São Paulo and Santos/Brazil
by Gilberto Mendes - composer, creator of Festival de Música Nova, and key figure of Brazilian Manifesto Musica Nova of 1963 - Jornal "A Tribuna" - Santos/Brazil

"Do brasileiro Felipe Lara, estudando no momento em universidade norte-americana, também outra novidade, outra jóia musical: Prisma. O curioso é que Felipe Lara vem da música popular, é fenomenal o salto que ele deu para a música da mais alta cultura, que é a música de vanguarda, de invenção."

"From Felipe Lara, currently studying in a North-American University, another musical jewel: Prisma. It's curious that Felipe Lara comes from popular music, and it's phenomenal the "jump" that he gave into the music of highest culture, that is avant-garde music, music of invention."

Tutti

AltaVoz Ensemble - Julliard Pierrot Ensemble - Paul Hall - Julliard School - New York City
by David Salvage - Sequenza 21

http://www.sequenza21.com/2006_05_21_s21archives.html

"Felipe Lara's "Tutti," the last piece on the program, once again brought to the stage the entire ensemble. The piece's big, swooping gestures come across like the tempestuous motions of a single, giant being, and, with a prominent gong part underscoring bird-like thickets of sound, the ghost of Messiaen is not far away."